Minimum RAM for Vista?

Hey all,

Was just wondering what you guys reckon should be the minimum amount of RAM used with Vista?

As far as i know, Microsoft recommend 512MB, But thats a load of crap. My current computer has 3GB and seems to be OK. I am mildly interested in picking up a laptop and want Vista on it. However, I won't be using the laptop as often as i would my desktop (obviously i'll use it a lot when i first get it, until the novelty wears off) so it doesn't have to be a super machine.

Would i get away with having a smooth experience using 2GB, Or should i go with 3GB at the very minimum?


Just looking for opinions.


Thanks

feylya

I'm using 2 gigs and it's ok with Firefox, Tweetdeck, MSN and Winamp. Once I launch Eclipse and Photoshop, it slows right down and 3-4 gigs is needed

tman

Microsoft are dirty liars tbh. 1GB is the bare minimum you should consider using, I would hate to see it "running" on a system with 512mb.
2GB should be perfect for normal usage and some games, it did me nicely for a few months anyway. Upgrading to 4GB didn't give a noticeable boost for the most part

Kinetic^

Unless the laptop is going to be a high end XPS or something similar, I'd go with XP or ubuntu on it.

Rebel021

2gb is really the minimum ,
I've seen laptops running 1 and 1.5 gb of ram and they are still slow.
Tweaking the system for better performance is also needed see the stickies.

Voodu Child

I would put 2GB as a minimum for the average user (internet, e-mail, etc). That'll run fine.

If you're doing anything intensive, you may as well go to 4GB, it's pretty cheap these days. I think you'd pick up 2x2GB laptop modules for about 30 or 40 euro (provided they're not the newer DDR3).

calex71

im running my 3 year old laptop with vista on 1gb of ram and on board intel gfx and its perfectly acceptable for music video internet etc. As said though anything other than light weight things does really slow it down .

Also its got that really slow folder view thing going on but then again my desktop with 3gb of ram has that also , aswell as the annoying slow transfer from usb sticks

tman

calex71 wrote: »

aswell as the annoying slow transfer from usb sticks

Have you installed SP1?

EKRIUQ

I had a new computer and it only had 512mb for ram it was fine for an accounnts package but very slow if other applications were running. This computer is never connected to the internet and no music, movies or games are ever used on it and it ran fine.

I have upgraded the ram now to 2GB(€30) and runs better now

Black Swan

I've been running Vista Ultimate with 2 gigs memory for the past 2 years, and after I got rid of all the bloatware, it runs just as fast as when I used XP3. Have a friend that has Vista Home with only 1 gig, and it's a bit sluggish when he loads his apps. Recommend minimum 2 gigs RAM.